Libgate
Libgate was a scandal, involving the restoration and membership of the Libertarian Party, that took place in February 2017. The Formation of the Party The formation itself caused unrest among some members, in particular then-Conservative Party Leader Tanqueray91, for three reasons. Firstly, he pointed to clause in the MHoC Constitution which states that: "Parties are formed when approved by the administration team and Speaker." He suggested that as the Community Team would not have a subforum ready for a few months, they had not approved the restoration of the party. He went on to state that the party had just 4 legitimate members, a long way off from the 10 recommendation in the Guidance Document. He claimed that the party was created on the basis of 6 active members and therefore was formed fraudulently. Airmed agreed with him: 'I know the guidance is usually 10 members to form a party, but 4 is a joke.' adam9317 defended himself by saying that when he was running dupe checks on the proposed members, there were 10 proposed members. Also, ByronicHero reminded people that the Green Party and UKIP only had around 1 member each. Tanqueray91 then expressed concerns about an off-site subforum that the party had created, pointing out that any member could join and spy on their activites. However, Joep95 quashed this particular concern by assuring people that the only way to get access to the subforum was if he gave them access. Even so, Saracen's Fez said it was 'ludicrous' that they had been allowed to form without having a TSR subforum. Illegal Dual Memberships Tanqueray91 also complained about one of his Conservative Party colleagues, heri2rs, who had an illegal dual membership with the Libertarian Party. He implored the Speaker to take action against the individual, for whom he had not permitted a dual membership. Tanqueray91 claimed that adam9317 had not carried out the process properly and wished he had voted for Jacob E instead in the Speakership Election. He also ask PetrosAC if he had permitted hazzer1998 to have a dual membership with which the latter replied he had not. cranbrook_aspie, then-Socialist Commissar for Internal Affairs, was angered by the Speaker and said that 'the Tories have now potentially had their subforum privacy breached as a result of your failure to properly assess the situation, which is totally unacceptable', and demanded an apology. He did suggest though that Tanqueray91 should have removed heri2rs from the Conservative Party user group as soon as he discovered the news but Tanqueray91 replied that he had no idea about the situation until that afternoon. adam9317 responded by saying that heri2rs and hazzer1998 had been listed as potential Libertarian Party members for weeks and that if they wanted to leak secret information from their respective parties, which Tanqueray91 suggested they could do whilst illegal dual members, they would have done it by now. Constitutional Consultant Tanqueray91 asked then-Labour Leader RayApparently whether or not Quamquam123 was a dual member of the Labour Party and the Libertarian Party as he appeared to have access to their off-site subforum. However, CoffeeAndPolitics said that Quamquam123 was dedicated to Labour and that this statement was simply not true. Joep95 hoped to clarify the issue by revealing that Quamquam123 was the Libertarian Party's 'constitutional consultant'. RayApparently said that he had 'not heard about nor given consent to such an arrangement' but the matter was cleared up a few days later when it was agreed that Quamquam123 would remain as the Libertarian Party's constitutional consultant providing he did not leak any information from either party's subforum. Aftermath It is worth noting that a large amount of criticism over the party's formation came from Conservative Party members, with Life_peer remarking that 'total mess incoming' and meenu89 commenting that 'I have a bad feeling about this, not sure the Speaker has done the right thing here.' This prompted a few members to suggest that they were worried that the Libertarian Party could take votes away from them. However, it is clear that some of the issues raised were valid, evidenced by adam9317 making the following statement a few days after the formation: 'I would like to apologise for how I have handled this issue. I understand it has not been amazingly handled and there are elements which I could have executed better.' However, despite the conflict that arose from the Libertarian Party's formation, adam9317 remained as Speaker and the Libertarian Party has now established itself as an important part of the Model House of Commons. To sum up Libgate in a minute, CoffeeGeek created a video which received critical acclaim from all areas of the House. External Links * Announcement of the Libertarian Party's Restoration * CoffeeGeek's Video